I see this all the time, especially with guys around age thirty. They spend $5,000 on fancy road bikes and the "Look Like Lance" costumes. They ride on ten or twenty sunny Sundays each year with a pack of guys who try to ride as fast as possible and "drop" their friends to show how fast they are. And, after a summer or two of this sort of nonsense, many guys just hang the bikes up in the rafters of the garage and never ride again.

If that same fella tried a different approach, cycling could be an integral part of his life. The key is to ride every day. At least those days when the temperature is above forty degrees and it is not rainy too hard. Ride every day, if only for fifteen minutes or twenty minutes.

The folks who say "Well, if I only had fifteen minutes of free time, I couldn't ride because it takes me fifteen minutes to change into my riding clothes and riding shoes" are missing most of the fun of riding. Wear whatever clothes you have on, whether it is tennis shoes, cut-off jeans, and old tee-shirts or the suit and tie from work. Just get on the bike and ride.

Ride to the neighbor's house, the grocery store, the post office, the corner pub. Ride slooowly. Relax. Never ride with those guys who need to brag "I was cruising at about 35mph when..." Ride only for fun. And, throw away the bike computer.

If you want to get your friend back into riding, loan him a beach cruiser. Take him on a slooow ride around the neighborhood...after he finds out that riding a bike is not the same thing as pretending to RACE a bike, he will enjoy riding, maybe even get addicted to riding.